Electro-mechanical counting devices

Electro-mechanical counting devices are devices that use both the electronic and mechanical
principles to perform the task of calculation. These include:
1. John Napier’s Bone
2. Blaise Pascal's Machine
3. Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz's Machine
4. Joseph Marie Jacquard’s Loom
5. Charles Babbage’s Machine
6. Dr. Philip Emeagwali's computer
1. John Napier’s Bone: In 1617, a Scottish mathematician called John Napier invented a tool
called Napier’s Bone. It consist of eleven rods, with four sides each which was used to solve
multiplication and division problems.
2. Blaise Pascal's Machine: Blaise Pascal a nineteen years old French mathematician invented a
calculating machine in 1642 and named it Pascaline. This machine was made up of gears and
was used for both addition and subtraction of up to 8 digits numbers.
3. Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz’s Machine: In 1671, a German Philosopher and mathematician
named Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz designed a calculating machine callled Stepped
Reckoner. This machine was used for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and
calculating square root of numbers.
4. Joseph Marie Jacquard’s Loom: The Jacquard Loom was invented by invented by Joseph
Marie Jacquard in 1801, which used punched cards to control weaving of patterns in fabric. It
was the first machine that controlled a sequence of operation using the punched cards.
5. Charles Babbage’s machine: In 1822, an English Mathematician, Charles Babbage built a
machine called Difference engine. In 1833, he later designed another more complex machine
called Analytical engine. This machine had the ability to handle large amount of data and
process it at a high speed. The death of Charles Babbage disallowed him from witnessing the
working of his machine. Later, his secretary Ada Lovelace, wrote the program for the machine
and this earned her the first computer programmer. Charles Babbage is known as the father of
computer.
6. Dr. Philip Emeagwali's computer: Dr Philip Emeagwali (Inventor of the World’s Fastest
Computer) who has been called the “Bill Gates of Africa,” was born in Nigeria on 23rd August,
1954. He is a Nigerian and his later work contributed to internet technology and he is called a
father of the internet.
Assignment
1. Why was Charles Babbage called the father of computer?
2. Who was the first computer programmer?